At times, it can be an uphill battle getting companies on board with some of the trends in the digital space. Embrace Disruption PR maintains a very large focus on digital in all our campaign efforts for a number of reasons. Our philosophy lies in understanding that traditional PR may grab the awareness you’re looking for – but tools like social, email marketing, and content marketing are extremely important in maintaining and engaging your audience. In today’s marketplace, it’s the ONLY solution that makes sense.

Recently PRDaily released this article based on a recent study examining digitally mature companies. The results are very telling, and further enforce just how important embracing digital (and disruption) is.

This might be the evidence you need to persuade your boss or client to invest in social media: A newly released study says “digitally mature” companies are more profitable than their counterparts.

The years-long study from Capgemeni Consulting and the MIT Center for Digital Business looked at more than 400 companies and found that the ones that thoughtfully invest in social media and let it drive their business decisions “benefit from a considerable ‘Digital Advantage’ and demonstrate significantly better financial performance than their peers.”

In other words, it pays to use social media.

What, exactly, does “digitally mature” mean? According to the study’s authors, it’s based on two factors: “digital intensity” and “transformation management intensity.”

Apparently, it’s all about intensity—although really, it sounds a bit like word soup, so let’s explore what they mean.

“Digital intensity” refers to investing in technologies to “change how the company operates,” the study says. An example would be the high-end British fashion label Burberry, which has a robust presence on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. According to the study, the label coupled these sexier efforts on social platforms with a strategy of integrating the data it was collecting on a global scale.

Since adopting social media, Burberry has seen a profit boost of 21 percent, reports The Next Web.

“Transformation management intensity”—the real doozy, jargon-wise—is really quite simple (in theory): It’s all about leadership that believes in digital and will work to drive transformation at an organization. Nike, for instance, built a digital division to corral and grow the many things it was already doing on social media.

The study noted that although many companies have leaders who believe in digital, they are also slow to adopt programs or else overly conservative. Basically, they don’t put their money where their mouths are.

Based on these two factors—“digital intensity” and “transformation management intensity”—the study slices the companies it examined into four quadrants.

“‘Beginners’ have barely started, usually because they’re unaware of the opportunities, ‘Fashionistas’ adopt the newest or sexiest digital innovations, but without a cohesive strategy or eye to maximizing business value, ‘Digital Conservatives’ have a cohesive vision, but are slow to invest in new technology, and finally, the ‘Digirati,’ who both invest in digital and integrate it with their whole organization.

These seem like fairly accurate categories, although companies certainly bleed from one category into another, as this chart shows:

And this chart shows the profitability of companies within each category:

Clearly, based on the study, it pays to have a well-developed and robust social media program. The problem is, reaching that point remains a challenge for cash and resource strapped companies, and those with leaders who still don’t see the benefits of social media.

Here’s the full study from Capgemeni Consulting and the MIT Center for Digital Business.

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I have told so many (especially small) companies the importance of engaging in Social Media and the benefits to them and their audience. And once they do, they’re amazed at the opportunities they receive. Social media is here to stay and the best way to reach a majority of people, since most people have mobile phones, tablets, etc. that they can access internet right at their fingertips….at all times! Great article!